For the first time in the 2013
season, the East and the West finally collided. It was the annual showdown between the two conferences, where teams wanted to prove they belonged to the stronger conference-while
also hoping that their divisional rivals would lose, giving them a leg up in
the playoff race.

In the end the total match score was a tie, (even the game
points scored were equal) with both conference winning four matches, but the
individual divisional match-ups were both quite lopsided. The Atlantic Division
won three out of four matches against the Pacific Division, with the New York
Knights spoiling San Francisco's perfect record. The next night, the South
Division was able to even the score, winning three out of four against the
Northeast Division, and the Dallas Destiny and Miami Sharks each kept their
perfect record.

So far Dallas fans can thank FM
Jeffrey Xiong for their team's success. Jeffrey has 4/4 this season and leads
the MVP race. This week he played a smooth game with the black pieces to defeat
Baltimore's GM Larry Kaufman:

After 36 moves of a relatively quiet
game the players reached the following position:

37.Re8!! (I'm giving GM Stripunsky the
benefit of the doubt here, because I assume he had already seen his 42nd move
before making this one. If that's the case, then this move is fully deserving
of high praise.) 37...Kf7 38.Rb8 Rg6 It seems like White's knight is
trapped, but Stripunsky has prepared a neat little sacrifice... 39.Rxb7+ Kg8
40.Nh5 Be2 41.f5 Rg5 (41...exf5 42.Nf4+-)42.Nxg7!

The point of White's
previous play. The knight is sacrificed but White's king ends up working
overtime and winning the game on his own.
42...Rxg7 43.Rb8+ Kh7 44.fxe6 White's e-pawn is incredibly strong,
and Black must either give up their bishop for it, or let White's king capture
all the queenside pawns.)
44...Rg4 45.e7 Re4+ 46.Kd6 Bh5
47.Kxc6 Rxe7 (47...Rxd4
48.e8Q Bxe8+ 49.Rxe8 Rxb4 50.Kd7+- is easily winning for White.) 48.Rb7!
The simplest path to victory, as
Black's king is too far away to stop White's pawns. 48...Be8+ 49.Kb6 Rxb7+
50.Kxb7 Kg6 51.Kxa6 Kf5 52.b5 1-0
IM Levon
Altounian (ARZ) - IM Eli Vovsha (MAN) 1-0 (3rd place GOTW)

In the following position, White has
a really nice advantage. They've got great central control, better piece
placement, and connected rooks. So what to do?

24.d5! Pressing forward! With better pieces
and a more secure king any opening of the position is sure to benefit White. 24...e5
Unfortunately this move is kind of necessary, and Black's minor pieces are
suffering from passivity. (24...exd5 25.Nxd5 Nxd5 26.Bxd5 Bxd5 27.Rxd5+- With
threats of Rad1 and Rxh5 Black's position is without hope.) 25.Na5! Continuing
the attack--this position clearly calls for a tactical breakthrough, and it
comes soon: 25...Kc8 26.d6!

With an extra pawn and a strict
positional bind, IM Altounian had no problems slowly but surely converting the
advantage. 1-0
Week Four starts on
Tuesday, September 24. Find games, results, standings, line-ups, blogs, and
more on www.uschessleague.com. Also
make sure to check outwww.chess.com/tv Tuesday and Wednesday
nights for live coverage of every USCL match! The coverage is open to all
members (membership is free), and often features league commissioner IM Greg
Shahade, and other special guests. Make sure to follow@hellokostya on Twitter as well.